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The first books were written by the Reverend W. Awdry as a way to cheer up his son Christopher, who was ill with measles. The original series had twenty-six books, since expanded to forty-two by Christopher. After a large hiatus, a new book was published in 2007 and again in 2011.

In 2012, the first four books were released in digital format on iTunes in the UK. Audio adaptations of the Railway Series have been recorded at various times under the title The Railway Stories.

Contents

History

The origins of the Railway Series can be traced back to Wilbert Awdry's childhood, listening to nearby steam engines struggle up the steep grade on the Great Western Railway. He noticed they made sounds that made it seem as if they were having conversations. To Awdry, it was as if each engine had its own personality.

In 1943, during the height of the Second World War, Awdry's young son Christopher was ill with the measles. To entertain his bed-ridden child, Wilbert told stories of talking engines named Edward, Gordon, and Henry. Christopher demanded consistency among each retelling of the stories, so Wilbert wrote them down. It was not until Awdry was heavily persuaded by his family that he sent in his stories to be published, and in 1945, The Three Railway Engines was published.

Between 1948 and 1972, Awdry wrote a new title every year. The series went through six different illustrators, William Middleton, Reginald Payne, C. Reginald Dalby, John T. Kenney, and Gunvor and Peter Edwards. Awdry received letters from railwaymen who would read the stories to their children or grandchildren. They praised his realism. Almost all of the stories in the Railway Series were based on a real event that happened to some engine, somewhere, at some time.

Although Awdry "retired" in 1972, annuals were published. In 1983, Christopher Awdry, who had written articles for railway magazines, decided to carry on the torch. After being inspired by a story told by an engineman on the Nene Valley Railway, he penned Really Useful Engines. Eager to put out new material to coincide with the upcoming television adaptation, publishers Kaye and Ward accepted the new book. Christopher consistently put out new Railway Series titles until the late 1990s, and Clive Spong was assigned as the current illustrator.

During the early 2000s Christopher was not asked to write any new titles despite the popularity of the TV series. It was not until 2007 that he was finally able to get a new title published. Four years later, to honour what would be his father's one-hundredth birthday, he published Thomas and his Friends. This was the first book in the entire series to have "The End" written after the book's conclusion. At the 2014 Tale of the Brave premiere in Leicester Square, London, Alf Fortnam, widower of the late Hilary Fortnam, said Christopher Awdry was finished with the series.

From 1979-1980 the annuals were written by Rev. W. Awdry, and from 1985-1996 by Christopher Awdry. In some cases, these stories expanded upon earlier Railway Series books, in others they were entirely new, and some later rewritten and used as Railway Series stories.

Companion volumes

These books mainly feature the Island of Sodor, dealing with its history, geography and industry in far greater depth than could ever be discussed in the Railway Series stories themselves. However, The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, is a biography of Rev. W. Awdry and companion to the series.

Bad Days for Thomas

A series of books written to highlight rail safety. They were written partially due to Christopher Awdry's frustration at not being able to include a proper rail safety story in Thomas and the Great Railway Show.

Trivia

Nearly all of The Railway Series stories were based upon real-life events. As a lifelong railway enthusiast, Wilbert Awdry was keen that his stories should be as realistic as possible. The engine characters were almost all based upon real classes of locomotives, and some of the railways themselves were directly based upon real lines in the British Isles.

Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted to produce a musical based on the Railway Series, but the Reverend W. Awdry refused to give Lloyd Webber the control he wanted. Lloyd Webber would go on to compose "Starlight Express", and create "The Really Useful Group", a name inspired by the catchphrase "Really Useful Engines".

The Railway Series has also mentioned more than twenty real engines.

In 1973, Kaye and Ward released the Japanese translation of Awdry's 26 books. The series was translated by Kuwabara Saburou and Shimizu Shuyu. Genyuu Kuroiwa supervised the technical terms of the railway. Christopher's books, however, have yet to be translated into Japanese.